The Minnesota North Stars And Boston Bruins Knuckled Up On This Day In 1981

On this day in 1981, my dad was forced by his parents to attend his sister's high school choir concert.

Did he want to go? No, he did not. He wanted to watch the North Stars play against the Bruins in Boston that night. There had been some bad blood brewing between the teams and he had an idea that it might pop off that night.

However, he was overruled and was made to sit through my aunt's high school choir's rendition of Kool and the Gang's "Celebration," which is now a required song at every family gathering because he MISSED OUT on that hockey game.

The North Stars entered the game 0-27-7 in team history when playing in Boston. They were determined to show the mighty Bruins that, on this night, they would not be backing down.

Just seven seconds into the game, Bobby Smith fought the Bruins' Steve Kasper... but that was just the appetizer. The first period ended up lasting 91 minutes, with 341 penalty minutes being assessed between the two teams in the opening period alone.

The 67 penalties in the first period is an NHL record, and the teams' combined 406 penalty minutes for the game was the record until an Ottawa Senators/Philadelphia Flyers matchup in 2004 that resulted in 419 penalty minutes.

In total, the North Stars racked up 211 penalty minutes: 18 minor penalties, 13 majors, four ten minute misconducts and seven game misconducts.

On a related note, Norm sucks.